A little extra seeking and knocking

On July 6, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn #friendships, blessings, judging, prayer, thingsLeave a comment

The scripture for today, July 7 (7/7), is Matthew 7:7 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Ask, and it will be given to you, seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.”

How beautiful! The Creator of the universe pays attention to each and every one of us. How does he do it? How does he even sort us all out when thousands of us are praying to him at the same time?

But sometimes you may think he is not listening to your prayers. It takes time to answer some of them. If I am praying to meet my future husband or wife, God may have to move him or her from the other side of the country, get a new job for him or her and arrange for the two of you to “accidentally” bump into each other. This is just one example.

At other times you may ask for something like winning a ball game. When Jesus said whatever we seek will be given to you, he had already explained that you must “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). So, within that context, God will give you your heart’s desire.

Maybe today, you can do a little bit of extra seeking and knocking.

SAMSON is storybook #7 in A CHILD’S BIBLE HEROES. Samson’s mother prayed and prayed for a son, and was finally granted her desire. But, was he ever a handful! People seem to think of only his weaknesses. Well, and his muscles. We tend to forget he was a judge over Israel. And he must have been pretty good at it because he judged 40 years. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………. https://bit.ly/38yLCHP

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Amazing thoughts that dazzle my mind

On July 3, 2020 By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, church, faith, good works, Heaven, Inspirational, joy, love, praise, prayer, Thanksgiving, worship2 Comments

You are my king. You are crowned with the sun. Your scepter is tipped with the moon. Your robe spreads across millions of galaxies. Your throne is the dome of the cosmos encircled with a thousand rainbows. Your eyes sparkle like stars, your laughter is like the thunder, your tears like raindrops, your touch like billowy clouds gliding across the sky. Oh, my Lord. I love you, adore you, worship you. I am your bride and long for you.

Ah, Lord Jesus. What a life you lived! You never sinned and that means you never passed up anyone who needed you. I think you must have been skinny. You must have skipped many a meal to get to everyone. And the awesome miracles you performed! Growing cut-off arms and legs back, returning the noses, fingers and toes to lepers, making the forever blind see, opening the ears of the deaf so they could hear your voice and the amazing words that came from your lips. Thank you, thank you for showing us who you really were ~ God materialized. Amazing thoughts that dazzle my mind.

LOVE LETTERS OF JESUS AND HIS BRIDE is based on the Song of Solomon as it relates to the church as the bride of Christ. Hundreds of footnotes lead you to the N.T. where the symbolism is revealed in the church. Can be used for a class Bible study or as a gift book. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or PASTE THIS………. https://bit.ly/2Vl3dhi

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Declaring Your Majestic Divinity

On June 30, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, church, death, forgiveness, Heaven, persecution, praise, prayer, sin, temptation, worship1 Comment

You, my Creator, allow me to be so close to you, it takes my breath away in awe. I am frail. I am feeble. I am made of dust. But you breathed into me the breath of life. Just think! I have the breath of God in me. Oh, miracle of miracles! I will return that breath to you in songs of praise. With that same breath I will extol you to the end of my days on earth, and then resume in your world before your throne forever. As small as I am, you take time to know me ~ the good and the bad ~ and love me still, and make me your friend. More, you have made me your child. Wonder of wonders.

Thank you, Lord God, for times of worship with my brothers and sisters in Christ. Many of us cannot be together right now in order to protect each other. But our hearts are intertwined with love. Thank you for freedom to worship you. Thank you for your protection. Nothing can hurt me without your permission. And when sometimes I am persecuted, thank you for the privilege of standing tall, forgiving my persecutors, and declaring your majestic divinity before them. And, should I die at their hands, let it be while praising you.

ADAM & EVE is storybook #1 in the A KID’S BIBLE HEROES series. Looking at the ages of their sons, they apparently went some 100 years without sinning. They resisted Satan’s temptations a very long time. There is good and bad in everyone. “Think & Do” at the end of every chapter. Great for HOME SCHOOLING. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………. https://bit.ly/3dOf7X8

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Short history of music in the temple

On June 26, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, blessings, family, Inspirational, joy, praise, Thanksgiving, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, June 26 (6/26), is 1st Chronicles 6:26ff as found in the Old Testament of the Bible.

“Elkanah his son, Zophai his son, Nahath his son, Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, Elkanah his son and SAMUEL his son. The sons of Samuel: JOEL the firstborn and Abijah the second son.”

This is a little long, but I think you will enjoy it.

The prophet Samuel came from a musical family who descended from Levi’s son Kohath. Samuel’s son, listed in this scripture, was Joel. Verse 33 called the son of Joel and grandson of Samuel “Heman, the musician.” Just what did Heman the musician do?

David told the Levites to appoint “singers to sing joyful songs, accompanied by musical instruments: lyres, harps, and cymbals.” Heman was the first one they appointed (I Chronicles 15:16f), and he had two assistants, ~ Asaph and Merari (I Chronicles. 6:39, 44). David put them in charge of the music in the house of the Lord, and they performed their duties according to the regulations (verses 31f).

So what David appointed was a choir and orchestra. When David first appointed them, Heman had 120 relatives in his clan, and his assistants had 220 and 130 in their clans (I Chronicles. 15:5-7; 19-22; 27-28), so they had a total of 470 musicians. Wow! And these musicians had a full-time job!

They were to minister before the Lord “according to each day’s requirements” of sacrifices as written in the Law of Moses. Heman and the others were responsible for sounding the trumpets and cymbals and playing the other instruments ~ lyres, harps, and cymbals (15:19-21) ~ for sacred song (16:37-42). In addition to playing the prescribed lyres, harps, and cymbals, trumpets were to be sounded to announce sacrifices, etc. (16:4-6).

By the time David was old, there were “four thousand…to praise the Lord with the musical instruments” (I Chronicles 23:5)! What an amazing choir and orchestra they had by this time! Remember, they were all male Levites, and were to help Aaron’s descendants, the priests, in the temple every day and at special feasts (verse 28, 30f). And what instruments were they still playing? Cymbals, lyres, and harps “for the ministry at the house of God” (I Chronicles. 25:1 & 6).

Years later after David died and his son Solomon had completed the grand Temple in Jerusalem (II Chronicles. 5:1), “all the Levites who were musicians…stood on the east side of the altar dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres, accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. The trumpeters and singers joined in unison as with one voice to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and the other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the Lord” (verses 12-13).

Can you imagine such an orchestra and choir? The tinkling of the harps and lyres, with cymbals keeping the tempo, and trumpets calling attention to it all? And all those singers! Was God pleased? Indeed he was, for in the form of a cloud, “the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God” (verse 14).

All this occurred around 1000 BC. Three centuries later, when Hezekiah was king, the same instruments were being played ~ cymbals, harps, and lyres (II Chronicles. 29:25f). Why? Because they were prescribed by David, Gad the seer and Nathan the prophet as commanded by God through his prophets. (Acts 2:29-30 says David was a prophet too.)

So we see that during Old Testament times, God commanded that they have full-time musicians to sing and play during daily sacrifices and special feasts, and they had to be male Levites, and they had to play cymbals, harps, and lyres, sometimes accompanied by trumpets.

What a family Samuel had! And I’ll bet he was musical himself. How proud he would have been of his descendants.

Interestingly, although God specified every detail of the instruments that had to be played in the Old Testament, nothing like that was specified in the New Testament. Did God forget? Perhaps God took us to a higher plain in the New Testament era. We do know that in I Corinthians 14:15, we are told to both pray and sing with mind and spirit.

And in Ephesians 5:19, we are told to “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.” The term “make music” in the original Greek language of the New Testament is to play on strings. Since we are to make music in our hearts, then it looks like we are to play on the instrument of our heart. How beautiful!

About 50 years ago, when my father died, the funeral was in a little country church. The music consisted of a small group from the congregation who sang hymns without the accompaniment of an instrument. They were not good performers ~ they twanged a lot and sometimes were a bit off-key. But it was some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard. Why? Because their singing was accompanied by their heart. They were telling my family, “We love you,” and I really felt that they did.

God looks down at our singing ~ no matter how good or feeble ~ and says, “I can tell you love me.” And that’s all that matters.

THE OLD OLD STORY SET TO OLD OLD TUNES has 40 songs about the Old Testament and 40 about the New Testament ~ all set to common folk tunes. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………. https://bit.ly/2YwJVHI

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Delirious exultation and sacred peace

On June 24, 2020 By Inspirations By KatherynIn #friendships, blessings, church, family, Inspirational, joy, love, praise, prayer, Scripture, Thanksgiving, worshipLeave a comment

You are my God and the only God. You give life, you radiate love, you judge rightly, you bestow mercy. I lift up my spirit, my heart, my soul to you. I will sing my praises to you through each day of my life no matter how difficult Satan may try to make it and no matter how short or long I live. I will sing your praises on and on. I will still be singing when I close my eyes here and walk through the gate into your realm. There I will lift my voice in highest praise, then bow at your feet in delirious exultation and sacred peace.

Thank you, God, for the friends who came to see me moments ago. You hear my weakest plea. You hear me when I am down and when I am flying high in jubilation. You hear me in my sunset moments, on cloudy days, in darkness and the shadows of a late dawn. Though there are millions of souls asking for your attention at the same time, you hear us all and come to us all as though each was the only one. How do you do that? You are God; that is how. And you love me. With my mind, my heart, and my soul I thank you and worship you.

I am pleased to announce my RESTORATON REPRINT LIBRARY

Reprinted Book I – The Best of Alexander Campbhell’s Millennial Harbinger 1830-1839
Reprint Book II – Instrumental Music in the Worship of the Church, written 1888
Reprint Book III – Writings of the Church of Christ in London 1600-1699 (pending)

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The God of Everywhere

On June 24, 2020 By Inspirations By KatherynIn #friendships, blessings, church, family, Inspirational, joy, love, praise, prayer, Thanksgiving, worshipLeave a comment

The beauty of the earth and the glory of the skies declare praises to you. Each hour holds a special wonder of you, each day a throng of delights to carry me through the night. You are my courage amid fear, my expectations amid disappointment, my audacity amid timidity, my hope amid doubt. You are my light through the darkness, my path through the wilderness, my life through danger. May your name be proclaimed by children, declared to be true by atheists, lauded by the world. Arise, oh universe! Praise the God of all things and of your very existence!

Thank you for your church, your family. You set it up so perfectly. Congregations of your family here and others there all around the world. Each congregation survives because you teach us to love one another and overlook intentional and unintentional mistakes. Brothers and sisters hand in hand, praying for each other, eating glad meals with each other, worshiping you together. Always there with a smile and a sigh, always there with laughter and tears, always together. Always your children, always a part of your family. Even when we travel and meet people in other parts of the world, we instantly have an immediate love whether it be to Asia or South America, Europe, or New Zealand, the Middle East or North America, Africa or one of earth’s poles. Where ever we find each other, we are still family. You are our forever Father and I worship you.

WORSHIP THE FIRST-CENTURY WAY is a follow up to its companion book, WORSHIP CHANGES SINCE THE FIRST CENTURY. It was written for denominational leaders with prayers for wisdom throughout and quotes from famous theologians. Buy as a gift or purchase in bulk for the entire congregation. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………. https://bit.ly/37akvlF

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Can they just turn it off?

On June 21, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, ego, family, love, sacrifice, ThanksgivingLeave a comment

The scripture for today, June 22 (6/22), is Ephesians 6:22 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“I am sending him to you for this very purpose: That you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you.”

Have you sent a letter to anyone in your family lately even if they don’t have email just to see how they are? How about your elderly parents, your grown children, aunts or uncles, nieces or nephews? Do they love you? If they do, they are going to worry about you until they hear how you are. Or do they only hear from you when you need money?

I have a letter written by my great grandmother to her daughter (my grandmother) saying (besides the usual chit-chat), “You never write.” I have another letter written a generation later by my grandmother to her daughter (my mother) saying, “You never write.” And I have a letter from my mother saying to her daughter, “You never write.”

Each generation goes through this. We grow up, go out on our own, get busy, and forget to write our loved ones. They spent somewhere around 20 years raising you, taking care of you, making sure you were clean, your clothes decent, you did your homework, you got along with your friends, your scratches were healed, you ate right. How can they devote that much daily time and energy (both physical and emotional) on someone until they are grown, and then just turn it off? Just quit caring? They cannot.

So today, sit down and write a letter to someone who helped raise you. If you think you don’t have anything to say, you really do. Tell them what you had for lunch yesterday, what song on the radio you heard, where you went, who you saw. Just chit-chat things. All they want is to know how you are. Then they will feel a lot better. Because they love you.

JOSEPH THE OTHER FATHER speculates what it might have been like for Joseph to raise the Son of God. Several months before Jesus’ crucifixion, he was rejected in Nazareth and they said, “Isn’t (present tense) this the son of the carpenter?” Jesus apparently did not try to save his step-father’s life with a miracle and keep him from heaven. What kind of things did Joseph talk to Jesus about on his death bed? What precious memories? To BUY NOW, click a book cover to PASTE THIS………. https://bit.ly/30FFlbC

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You stand in the universe among the worlds

On June 19, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, eternity, Inspirational, love, power, praise, Thanksgiving, truth, worshipLeave a comment

The stars join together in rapturous chords to sing your praises from galaxy to galaxy. The planets echo their song. It spirals down to the mountain tops. The mountains tremble and the song soars upward until it penetrates worlds and rests at last at your throne. Though there be hundreds of billions of galaxies, the worlds cannot praise you enough, nor can my heart.

I thank you, God, because you never change. No matter how much people change, you stay the same. You never allow anyone to pressure you to give in to us or become like us to ease our consciences. If you changed, there would be no such thing as truth. If you changed there would be no such thing as love. If you changed, we could not be saved from Satan and his world. Your love is stubborn, immovable, persevering. You will stand in the universe among the worlds tall and strong, exalted and majestic. Thank you for never changing. I worship you.

ABRAHAM is storybook #3 in the series A CHILD’S BIBLE HEROES. God promised Abraham he would have more descendants than the stars. He had to wait 25 years for the promise to begin, but he kept believing. THINK & DO at the end of each chapter. Can be understood by children 3 and up to 12. Long words divided for the early reader. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………. https://bit.ly/3hKm6Um

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They Fill the Gaps

On June 15, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn attitude, blessings, healing, joy, love, patience, praise, prayer, worshipLeave a comment

I praise you, God of my heart, soul and mind, God of the Bible. You never leave me guessing. As in days of old, you judge my thoughts and actions and sometimes punish enough to make me realize how self-destructive I am being. I hear your voice and turn around toward you. You call out to me. Sometimes I am stubborn, but you are even more so. Your patience and mercy fill in the gaps. So, sometimes when I wander in a wilderness of my own making, you call out to me, “I have the Water of Life. You do not have to be thirsty. I am the Way. You no longer have to wander. I want you to walk with me. You do not have to be alone.”

Father, help me ask people how they are and then wait for more of an answer rather than just “fine”. Slow me down so I do not wander off before they have a chance to tell me how they really are.

I have freedom to walk down the street and ride down the highway in safety. I have gardens with food and flowers in abundance. I have time to work on my hobby. I have the Bible ~ Words of life and love. I have the church and your friendship. What more can I ask?

PAUL: THE UNSTOPPABLE. Dare to experience with him every rod slamming into his bones, every whiplashing through his skin, every breath struggled for when treading water a day and night. Survive with him through all the shipwrecks, going days without food, a snow storm in the Taurus Mountains, being robbed on the highway. Listen as, each time his body is mercilessly attacked, he calls out, “Jesus! This is for you!” To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………. https://bit.ly/3fw2mlA

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All-night prayer?

On June 11, 2020 By Inspirations By KatherynIn #friendships, blessings, Daily, family, forgiveness, Inspirational, love, praise, prayer, problems, sin, temptation, ThanksgivingLeave a comment

The scripture for today, June 12 (6/12), is Luke 6:12 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“One of those days, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.”

How in the world did Jesus think of enough things to say that he could pray all night? Most of us, on a good day, only manage a 5-minute prayer. The next verse says that the next morning he selected his twelve apostles. Aha! He had a list. He had probably spent at least half an hour each praying about them by name, as well as about others he was considering. Jesus knew what his apostles would be facing someday. Which ones would be loyal enough, stubborn enough, strong-willed enough to someday in the future endure persecution, torture (skinned alive, beaten to death, burned), and martyrdom for him?

Who do you pray for by name? Do you have a prayer list? How about opening the newspaper and praying for all those people in the news ~ perpetrators, victims, causes, governments, situations? Or everyone you work with? Or everyone your children go to school with? Or all their teachers and administrators? Or the clerks in the stores you go to regularly? Or members of an organization you belong to? Or every member of your congregation? What about countries where people become Christians at risk of their freedom and even their lives?

There are always people in need of prayer. And one of the joys of such a prayer life is now and then telling people whom you know that they are in your prayers, or writing a note to someone who is a stranger to you telling them that you pray for them.

Some people have never heard their names in prayer. Some people have never even been told that someone prays for them.

God loves to answer prayer. Do you love prayer?

365 SILVER-WINGED PRAYERS: YOUR SPIRIT TO GOD’S is book 3 in the TOUCHING GOD series along with a book on daily wisdom and a book on daily scriptures. Includes daily praise and thanksgiving. Prayers of forgiveness are taken from the various lists of sins in the Bible. Requests are left to the reader. Five minutes or less for morning, noon, or evening meditation. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………. https://bit.ly/2AeBR4I

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